Cover Your Bases 17

11/30/2020 It’s endless and spreading, so what now?

This week: A reflection on something personal and reflective. Like Thanksgiving and The National Day of Mourning. In this painful year of witnessing and being a part of white systemic racism, attacks on black and brown people, the terrible impact of the virus, I couldn’t look at Thanksgiving the same way as before.  The recognition of it as a National Day of Mourning for so many is important. There is just no way I can honor those Pilgrims anymore.  I can go with Gratitude Day, and appreciate life with a meaningful feast with those I love, but am not good with the rest of it now that I know more.

As a resident of Oakland, CA, a place that started as Lisjan Ohlone land, I am educating myself about the work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, and considering paying Shuumi land tax, to show support for the people who have been here way before me, and whose lands were taken. The voluntary tax is a percentage of income and supports the work of the Trust. As one who has benefited from white privilege many times over, paying this tax is one way to acknowledge white privilege and colonization while giving locally.

“The Confederated Villages of Lisjan is one of many Ohlone tribes, each with its own geography and history. Our tribes, cultures, and languages are as diverse as the ecosystems we live within. When the Spanish invaded in the late 1700s, in their ignorance they called us Costanoan, people of the coast. In the 1960s and 70s, inspired by the Black Power and American Indian Movements, we organized and renamed ourselves Ohlone. But there are 8 different bands of Ohlone people, with connected but different territories and languages. The Lisjan speak the language Chochenyo.”  

(If you live elsewhere and want to learn more about the native lands you occupy, Native-Land.ca will provide information.)

Making: Where did I put my attention, this year? (Part 1 of 2). Or, in other words, restricted to home, where did I put my time? (I am kicking off these lists with activities and will move to books, movies, media later this month (Part 2).

Exercise (mostly via Zoom and YouTube, but some IRL): Doing Pilates 3X a week with my instructor Teresa Ellis at Pilates, Barre & Jams, and the #strongsquad has kept me sane.  A live class, with instruction and correction via Zoom, with people I knew before the pandemic (and others who have joined), is a blessing. I’m also taking advantage of taped videos from Yoga with Adriene,  Kit Rich Pilates, Classpass, and Balanced Body free Pilates video workouts.

If you’re not working out, starting with Yoga with Adriene is an easy win, especially some of the wind-down videos like this 12-minute yoga before bed activity:

Gardening: Our small yard has two raised beds and it’s been my project to make food appear. Our cucumber plant grew more than 100 cukes, we have persistent arugula that will not die, a squash plan that delivered just enough yellow squash for one minestrone, and a little kale, collards, and spinach.   I am the assistant on deep weekly watering of our container garden and front yard, custodian of our baby citrus trees, and girlboss of our succulent collection, including a 10-year old jade tree that is dramatically blooming. 

Cooking: Helen Rosner has a wonderful essay in The New Yorker about being tired of the endless routine of cooking. One killer quote:

“I don’t want to re-center myself by being mindful while I peel a head of garlic for the hundred-and-thirtieth day in a row; I want to lose track of myself entirely by playing seventeen straight hours of a battle-strategy video game in which I get to be a military-school professor with magical powers and green hair.”

I relate, and yet dishes I’ve mastered during this time give me and my family much pleasure.  I’ve written about the greatest hits of my meal rotation, but want to highlight the pleasure of smaller skills, like making cucumber pickles, boiling and eating beets in salads and as pickles, making orange and lemon marmalade, and, of course, making salad dressing over and over, almost every day, especially my simple champagne vinegar, mustard and olive oil dressing and the rich Caesar/anchovy I’ve come to enjoy once in a while. 

Over Thanksgiving, I made delicious spiced nuts using this recipe, based on this Make It Like a Man version: 

4 tbsp butter

1 cup each walnuts, pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp Garum Masala

2 tbsp Shichimi Togarashi 

¼ cup brown sugar

Kosher salt, to taste

Melt butter in a big skillet, 14 inches, ideally. Add the garum masala, then add and toast/brown nuts. Cook, stirring frequently at first, until the nuts are toasted, about 10 minutes. Pour it all onto paper towels on a big baking sheet, and sprinkle the nuts with brown sugar and with a little kosher salt, and toss. Let them cool and dry a bit and devour. 

PARTING BITS 

From the desk of Alicia Kennedy, On Prestige, and to whom it is granted: Kennedy explains that prestige is the conferring of status by others, especially brands or institutions--but also shows how it’s a lucrative currency so that those who seek it--and do not have it--accept less--like working or writing for free-- to get exposure. Kennedy’s examples circle around the food and food writing businesses--chefs and critics receiving less--but prestige as a currency cuts through everything. 

All those TikTok teen influencers making videos on their parent’s patios and in their high-ceilinged great rooms are running after versions of prestige that also lead to money, and this is a terrific essay about how it all works.

Ny'Aja Roberson performs at 'Pay Your Dues', a Black student-led protest in June 2020. Photo credit: Beatriz Escobar

Hewlett Foundation, Emiko Ono and Adam Fong, Our commitment to equity and justice in our support for the arts.  I’ve always admired the thoughtful work of The Hewlett Foundation and wanted to share this powerful quote from this essay about Hewlett’s evolving vision and principles: 

“This year we’ve seen so many people turn to arts and culture to make sense of what’s happening, to connect, to grieve, to heal, and as a powerful force for change. We must ensure the expansive power of the arts is an enduring part of our communities.” 

You made it this far, so here is one more thing: one last thing:  Spotify playlists and peeping at what my friends listen to are giving me great joy. This week, I played most of the catalog of Phoebe Bridgers and also spent time with new finds Lake Street Dive, Cuco, and my super fav, Sasha Masakowski.

Also, the marvelous Annalee Newitz on Harlots, a show with my hero, Samantha Morton.

Thanks for reading #17.  #18 hits next Sunday.  Subscribe if you like it.  And tell your friends.  And let me know what you are up to--I am SO TIRED of where we are and the need to hang on, right now.  How are you getting through it?

Warmly, Susan